#<-(wow i rarely ever use that tag...kicks pebble...hey guys)

[flowersandcandy06]

...and NOW here's that art thing I finished for my drawing class today!! (I'm so exhausted :,D)

I got the prompt "a jaguar dancing with your mom" and I knew what I had to do............apologies in advance 💔

(can you tell I didn't want to draw a detailed background for this one)

[poppibranchlover]

Bats What I Like About You - Part 8

The story: During a camping trip, Poppy tells a campfire story about a magic wish-granting tree which is believed to exist in the Troll world. However, Branch doesn’t believe in the story and says that magic wish-granting trees don’t exist. His disbelief gets the better of him when he finds the tree and before he knows what is going on with it, it casts a spell on Branch, causing him to transform into a vampire bat and believe that the tree does exist! Now stuck as a bat, he has to try to get himself back to normal with the help of a bat named Feng, who tags along with him for the rest of the adventure.

You already seen what had happened in Part 7. Now get ready for Part 8!:

No! It wasn’t possible!

Branch couldn’t be a bat!

Poppy felt scared!

She felt numb!

She felt sick!

She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping it would all go away. But it didn’t.

It is such a nightmare for everytroll to see! Guy was panicking in his auto-tuned voice, Smidge flicked her torch on and off many times and turning her head away from the sight of seeing a bat with a Troll’s head and Biggie was lying on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably, clutching tightly to a frightened Mr. Dinkles.

And worst of all...

Branch was still a grey bat, staring up at Poppy, from where his name was formed with sticks.

“Branch! It’s r-really YOU!!!” she shrieked. “What the hell happened to you?!”

“Eeeeeeep!” Branch squeaked. “Eeeeeep, eeeeep! Eeeeep, eeeep! Eeeeep, eeep! Eeeeep, eeeeep! Eeeeeep! Eeeeep! Eeep, eeeeep!”

Poppy was confused. “What happened to your voice?” she asked.

Branch knew what is Poppy trying to understand. The look on her face seemed to tell him that she and her friends are unable to understand what he is saying because he was squeaking instead of using his Troll voice. He knew there had to be an answer to all this. He knew he must find a way to get himself back to the Great Wishing Tree that transformed him into a bat and a way to make himself a Troll again.

“Eeeeeeep!” Branch squeaked again. He was trying to get Poppy’s attention. He turned to the right and glided off, flapping his appendages.

“Eeeeeeep! Eeeeep!”

“Hey, where are you going?!” Poppy cried. “Come back here!”

Biggie took her by the shoulders and whispered “I think he wants us to follow him!”

At the statement, she nodded numbly. Then she raced after the Branch bat, with Smidge, Biggie and Guy following her from behind.

Meanwhile, at the other side of the woods, Feng was perched on a tree branch, with tears in his eyes. He was feeling disappointed that Branch chose to sleep on the ground rather than on a tree because he felt that it was too embarrassing for him.

He looked down at the ground and sighed unhappily. “I just can’t believe Branch just betrayed me like that! I just saved his life from Stade and now he wants to isolate himself! That’s so not fair!”

Feng kicked a pebble to the ground. There had to be a perfect solution to make up with his new friend. If only he would know just the thing...

Suddenly, a realization hit the little bat and he exclaimed triumphantly, snapping his fingers “Hey! I know! I’ll try to apologize to him, just to be clear! Perhaps I’ll be certain if he feels safe to sleep on a pile of sticks instead of sleeping on trees!”

Then he chuckled. “Ohohohoho! Here I come, new bat in town! ‘Cause Feng’s ready to strut some ‘ooga-looga!’!”

Feng reflexes his muscles and his wings, bluffing about in the woods and trying to practice how he can make some words to say about Branch. For sure, he will not deny any bat in the forest except one he had saved!

Feng was about to fly off again but then bumped straight into a person right in front of him!

BANG!

Dizzy stars surrounded Feng’s head as he recovered from the impact. When he squinted to see where he had bumped into, he gasped!

“Oh dear!”

It was the bat farmer that had captured Branch last night! The Troll walked slowly forward to Feng with his hand reaching towards his wing. “All right, batty. Come on...you’re coming with me!”

And just like that, he snatched the funny bat by his leg!

“Eeeeep! Eeeeep! Eeeeeep! Eeeeeeep! Eeeeeep! Eeeeeep! Eeeeep! Eeeep!” Feng squeaked. He tried to wriggle free but the farmer held him even tightly.

In his own voice, Feng was screaming “Hey! Unhand me, “whoever’s-working-for-Stade”! Unhand me, please! This isn’t how a high-class vampire bat would meet his own demise!”

“Off to Professor Stade, we go, fella!”

Feng held up his fists and pretended he was trying to fight back with the Troll who took him hostage. He said boastfully “Wanna fight like a man here?! Huh?!” and he punched, but even though he was describing all these powerful blows, Feng was still just a fuzzy little bat. His soft claws couldn’t do much damage as opposed to Branch’s.

“That’s how you play ‘bat’, huh?!” he sneered. “Are ya gonna kill me now?!”

“That’s it. Settle down, settle down!” the farmer said, trying to stop him from squirming in his hand. “Finally got ya, little fella! This is it for you!”

The Troll turned the corner, holding a helpless Feng, and was gone, out of sight.

Oh no! Poor Feng! Who will ever save this cute fuzzy wuzzy bat with his woffly nose, his thin little fangs and flappy-looking wings?!

Meanwhile, Poppy and her friends are running about the woods, trying to find Branch. Poppy looked around as her head started to spin.

“Branch?” she called out. “Where are you?”

“Eeeeeep!”

Poppy turned to the right to hear Branch’s echoing squeaks. Suddenly, she and her friends stopped by a gleaming white tree trunk in front of them.

“Holy glitter!” Guy Diamond exclaimed in his auto-tuned voice. The Trolls found themselves staring at a rare white tree with gleaming sparkles and shiny roots under their feet! It’s the Great Wishing Tree!

Poppy was none other than happy when she saw it! “Yay!” she gushed with utter joy. “We found it, guys! The Great Wishing Tree!”

The Trolls, except Branch, all exclaim with “oohs” and “aahs”.

“Wow!” Biggie gasped. Then he turned to Mr. Dinkles in his arms and cooed “Mr. Dinkles, did you see that? The Great Wishing Tree of Troll World!”

The worm replied with a relieved “Meep!”

Guy whooped “It’s sooooo beeeeauuttiffull!!”

“It’s so magical!” Smidge said, feeling the tree’s warm sparkles.

“Well, speaking of that,” Biggie said. “Who had led us here to that tree?”

Branch brushed against the trunk and squeaked “Eeeeeep!”

Poppy knew what Branch meant. He wanted to show his friends that he had found the tree himself! She was delighted.

“Oh, Branch!” she chirped. “It’s so nice of you to lead us here to the magical wish-granting tree of the Trolliverse! You’re so fantastic with being so expertise!”

But Branch shook his head. “Eeeeeep, eeeeeep!”

What was Branch trying to tell them?

His eyes were glittering, his wings flapped angrily.

“Uh, Poppy,” said Smidge. “I think Branch is trying to tell us something else other than leading us to the tree.”

“Let me handle this,” Poppy told her. She turned to Branch and asked him “What is it, Branch? What are you trying to tell us?”

Branch could tell about Poppy’s expression that she is unable to hear his voice. So he knew he had to do something so that his friends can understand what has happened to him. He landed on the ground and decided doing some charades, explaining how the bat stole the firewood he collected last night and he ended up shaking the tree which causes the tree to wake up and hear Branch making an accidental wish before he woke up becoming a bat.

The Trolls watch in dismay as Branch completed the story by pointing at the tree. Then he pointed at himself.

“What’s he trying to tell us now?” Guy wondered aloud.

“Eeeeeep!” Branch squeaked, glaring at him.

“So...let me get this straight...” Poppy said, trying to contact with the situation. “The Great Wishing Tree did cast a spell on you after you accidentally wish you want to be a bat?”

Branch nodded. “Eeeeeeeep!”

Upon the finish of Branch’s tragic story of his transformation, the Trolls began to panic again. But Branch tried to calm them down by squeaking “Eeeeeep! Eeeeeep, eeeep! Eeeep, eeep!”

This meant “Be quiet, guys! Can’t you see what has this tree got myself into?!”

“How can you think we can be quiet?!” Guy screamed. “Look at you!” Then he rolled all over the floor and started crying.

Poppy shushed the Trolls. “Ssssssh!” And they all managed to keep calm. But they can’t help staring at Branch, who was still a bat. They prayed it was the right bat.

Poppy fell to her knees as Branch walked closer to her. She looked down at him and said sadly “Oh, Branch. I had no idea after all this time, you were so mad that this tree I told you guys last night was not real...and now, look at you.”

She put out her hands. She couldn’t stop them shaking and she felt terrified. She’d never touched a bat before. And even if his bat was her boyfriend, she thought the rest of Troll Town were going to be sick...

Branch could feel Poppy’s expression. He was touched by her sentence. He remembered shouting at them back at the camping trip about the tree’s existence but now Branch was wrong. Completely wrong...

He squeaked to Poppy sadly and tried to explain it is all his fault, making his girlfriend angry at him because he wasn’t even listening to her during the campfire story about the tree. He even tried thinking about Feng but that really did hit him hard. He sighed, not wanting to bear the pain in his head anymore. But he couldn’t bear on seeing Poppy’s disappointed look on her face so this made him sigh even more sadly.

Branch knew he had to cheer her up. He scuttled over to Poppy’s fingers and rubbed against them. All the Trolls could think was, they hope this bat was Branch and not a stranger. Yuk!

His fur was grey and glossy. And warm. And it bristled like a brush, tickling Poppy. His claws scratched gently against her skin. Yuk, yuk, yuk!

Then he clambered into her arms and curled up into a ball. He whimpered. “Erk!”

Biggie’s eyes were wide with horror. “Poor Branch...” he whined.

Poppy reached over and stroked his hair and his fur, complete with hugging him close in her arms.

“Eeeeeeep!”

“Awwww!” Poppy thought Branch was really cute while cuddling up in her arms. She hugged him tightly, feeling his deadpanned pulse in his heart. She stroked his pointy little ears.

“I seriously felt bad for him,” Guy said.

“Me too, Guy,” Smidge replied.

“What are we going to do about him?” Biggie asked.

Poppy knew there was a solution. She turned to her friends and answered “We just gotta tell the tree to wish him back into a Troll so that none of this would’ve ever happened!”

“You mean reverse the effects that the tree has made to the Trolls?” asked Guy.

“Yeah,” Poppy replied, rolling her eyes. “Maybe there is a cure to reverse the process of the Trolls’ wishes they make when they encounter the tree. My dad tells me that if the Trolls make a wish to get them to normal, the wish might take effect! So it’s the same thing like they make their own wishes, but in reverse style!”

Smidge was impressed by what Poppy was trying to explain. “That’s a great idea, Poppy! Let’s try to wish for Branch to turn back into a Troll!”

“Yeah, let’s do it!” Biggie cheered.

“Okay, I hope this works,” Poppy muttered. She looked down at Branch, cradled in her arms, and whispered gently to him “This is it, Branch. I’ll start making my wish to the tree now so you’ll be back to normal in no time!”

She took a deep breath and held up her batty boyfriend, whispering aloud “I wish...I...wish...for...”

“Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeppp!!!”

A loud deafening screech had cut Poppy’s words short! The Trolls all winced from the noise, complaining at once.

“W-what is t-that?” Biggie cried, covering his ears. Mr. Dinkles puts on some earmuffs to shield himself from the noise.

“Oh my gah!” Smidge yelled. “My poor ears!”

“Eeeeeep!” Branch squeaked suddenly, his little ears pricking up to hear where the screech is coming from.

To him, that screech seemed very familiar.

“Feng?” he whispered.

Then he released himself from Poppy’s grasp and glided out of sight, wings flapping, diving through the trees and bolting into the narrow branch holes.

“Eeeeeeep, eeeeeep!”

“What the?” Poppy cried, realizing that Branch is no longer in her arms. She looked at the flying black blur and exclaimed “Branch?! Where are you going?!”

But Branch was gone.

“Follow that bat!” shouted Biggie. Then all the Trolls raced into the path where Branch was flying towards to...the loud screeching sound still echoing around the woods.

“Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeppp!!!”

Could be Feng? Could it be really him? In trouble?! thought Branch in a panic as he continued flying through the woods. It can’t be!

                                              To Be Continued...

                                           Stay tuned for Part 9!

                     The Great Wishing Tree belongs to @gemennair.